VARANASI, Nov. 13 -- In a sweeping crackdown that ripped open the underbelly of Azamgarh's bail network, police on Thursday arrested 41 fake guarantors and 10 hardened criminals under Operation Shikanja - a high-voltage drive aimed at choking the nexus between habitual offenders and their shadowy enablers.

What began as a routine probe soon snowballed into the unmasking of a well-oiled "bail mafia", where so-called professional sureties repeatedly helped criminals slip out of jail - often for a price as low as Rs2,000 to Rs3,000.

Senior superintendent of police, Azamgarh, Anil Kumar said that Operation Shikanja was launched in the district after it came to light that after being released on bail, several accused were found involved in c...